It’s almost World Cup time, and you know what that means: Natalie found OVER ONE HUNDRED openly gay players and coaches! Now, please enjoy this Pop Culture Fix while you’re waiting for the footie. (I say footie now because I’m totally getting into soccer.)

+ Okay this is just about the wildest thing I have ever heard — because, before this, I could only ever imagine Alyson Hannigan as Willow on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but Melanie Lynskey actually passed on the role! And now I can easily see her playing our most beloved, most formative lesbian witch. Prior to the SAG-AFTRA strike, Lynskey spoke to Entertainment Weekly about her two Emmy nominations (The Last of Us and Yellowjackets) and said, “I was not sure about doing television at that time. It was very early in my career. I had a very old-school agent who was like, ‘TV? That’s for has-beens!’ and I was like, ‘I don’t think it is anymore.’ Certainly now things have really changed, but I just wasn’t super into it at the time.”

+ The Chi season six trailer is here!

+ Elite is officially getting an eighth season.

+ Great news from The Marvels (which keeps getting pushed back and pushed back and pushed back, which is driving me nuts)!  Anyway, the great news is that Goose is still here! Also, Ms. Marvel is jumping from Disney+ to ABC. A very big deal. It also means the writers and actors will finally see residuals for it. (Don’t miss Kayla on what LGBTQ actors are saying about the strike.)

Goose in a new still from #TheMarvels! pic.twitter.com/4dY5WUBaqE

— The Marvels Updates (@marvelsupdates) July 18, 2023

+ Nic has alerted me to some queers on 90 Day Fiance: Before the 90 Days.

+ Megan Rapinoe makes a powerful stand for trans women in sports.

+ AudioFile magazine says about Dykes to Watch Out For: “The full-cast audio adaptation of Alison Bechdel’s classic comic strip about the messy lives of a group of queer women in the 1980s is absolutely flawless.” That includes Carrie Brownstein, Roberta Colindrez, and Roxane Gay.

+ There are, of course, plenty of gays on Sports Illustrated’s The Power List 2023: The 50 Most Influential Figures in Sports.

+ Attitude magazine published a really lovely and insightful interview with King Princess.

+ I was fawning over the Megan Rapinoe Nike World Cup commercial but Natalie let me know there are even more, including Debinha (gay and from Brazil)!

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